Financial Risk Manager: Economic and Business Updates

Economic and Business Updates - From 3rd to 9th January, 2011
Wednesday, January 12, 2011

The government reverses the recent hike in petroleum products prices bringing them back to the October 31 level.
The government requests the European Union Commission to redirect half of the 114 million euros grant, allocated for reconstruction and rehabilitation of flood-hit areas, to budget support.
The country is facing the worst- ever inflation of its history after 1970, primarily because of fiscal indiscipline and borrowing from the State Bank to meet the deficit.
The US will provide $190 million to the Damage Compensation Fund for rehabilitation of flood-affected people in Pakistan.
The Asian Development Bank, International Finance Corporation, Citibank and Muslim Commercial Bank announce completion of a trade transaction that will help boost textile industry in Pakistan.
The Trading Corporation of Pakistan provides a list of eight sugar mills of influential politicians to the federal government. These mills allegedly defaulted on delivery of sugar resulting in crisis of the commodity in the market.
The recent devastating floods pushed the country to import over 60 per cent more pulses in the last five months to avoid possible food shortage in the country.
The ministry of industries and production fears a serious shortage of urea fertiliser across the country after government’s fertiliser import plan fails to materialise.
The government, in an effort to stabilise onion prices, bans its export to India via land route, while the same will continue through sea route.
The ministry of textile industry allows drawback facility of local taxes and levies to textile units in the Export Processing Zones.
Basmati rice export records a growth of 21 per cent at 0.534 million tons during the first six months of fiscal 2010-11, earning higher foreign exchange at $435 million.
The government fails to reduce the non-interest current expenditure during last two years and resorts to easy option of slashing the development expenditure.
The agriculture department of Punjab claims that 95 per cent wheat sowing target has been achieved against the total target of 16.89 million acres.
A Big gap between demand and supply is likely to stay because cotton crop harvesting is still short up to 14.17 per cent at 10.24 million bales as against 11.93 million during the corresponding period of last year.
The manufacturing of textile products registers a decline of 10.2 per cent during the first four months of the current fiscal year owing to price fluctuation in international market.